idealmike
Level X3
Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ
I think many people love this job but it is pretty hard to be successful at it. It is a job which requires a lot of effort, skill, and to a certain degree, luck. Professional graphic designers need to learn to market themselves or use proper avenues to increase their reputation. I have met many talented designers who struggle mainly because they have been rejected due to a lack of reputation or recommendation from clients.
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All that without mentioning the market is full. So far, I know a lot of people trying to survive as graphic designers. The other side of the story, is that based on the wrong fact that design is an "easy"career, nowadays there are a lot of institutes that offer it as a short one. So basically, in about 2-3 years that person is out there, competing with more experienced people that actually got a proper 5 years old career. Obviously, they have the basic knowledge, but not the complete one, and all that creativity needs its proper time and direction to be expressed in a professional way.
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"Do you think that it's because of the money potential or what?"
Possibly, but not very likely. I went to college for graphic design, and a lot of my peers were well aware of the fact that anyone who managed to land a job after college wasn't really going to be making much. Well, they wouldn't be making much relative to the cost of living in New York City, which is where I went to college.
I think the advent of personal computers played a big role in influencing a lot of people to pursue graphic design, myself included. Anyone with a relative knack for artistic creativity and a personal computer inevitably ended up downloading a pirated copy of Photoshop. A few tutorials here and there, and a lot of people gained an interest in turning a hobby into a profession.
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Graphic designers are every where, the niche is already saturated, because 1 out of every 50 person is a graphic designer(or calls himself so). but are they really graphic designers. I can't say the least. and i fear for the future because more people will dive into it, and the number of half-baked designers keeps up increasing.
High paying Job?. yeah if you are worth it, good graphic designers are hard to find .
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"Graphic designers are every where, the niche is already saturated, because 1 out of every 50 person is a graphic designer(or calls himself so). but are they really graphic designers."
I'm glad that someone said it before I had to. Even as I read the first point about the demand for graphic designers increasing, I thought to myself, "That means practically nothing when the market is absolutely overflowing with so-called graphic designers." Anyone with a pirated copy of Photoshop and beginner's knowledge in using it is considering themselves a graphic designer. Just look at the market on Fiverr. People are offering ridiculous services for insanely low prices and it's devastating to the freelance graphic design market. The competition is incredibly stiff and the pay is low, which makes me honestly feel like dropping the work entirely sometimes.
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Agree, my cousin is a graphic designer, she went to proper college for it, so her family did a good investment to give her excellent education, and let me tell you guys, she's making enough to survive, and she handles like 3 different places on it. As you say, nowadays, with all these downloadable graphic programs, anyone can offer a graphic designer service. So, besides competing with their own professional colleagues, they also have to deal with amateurs. Honestly, I see her struggle every day.
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Very good points here, but I'm not sure I agree entirely with 1 and 2, although I do partially agree with those points. First off, I think while the demand might increase, I believe that the amount of people supplying that demand has already and will only continue to saturate the market so even though more people will need services, if the other side equals it out and far surpasses it then it wouldn't mean much. Also, there are new technologies being introduced constantly that make it easier and easier for bosses of small businesses to just do graphics themselves, and I'm not sure this was taken into account when doing the study that lead to this statement.
As for the second one, I would agree that getting a degree might not be that necessary, but having a formal education certainly helps, or at the very least knowing what type of education to get for yourself if you choose self education is also very important. I see a lot of designers focus only on learning the software without understanding fundamentals and their designs might come out looking alright but there will always be something a little off and without the proper mentor they won't always get the training to figure out what mistake they are making.
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The second point that you posted is the most important. You don't need any experience or degrees to do well in graphic design or to even get a career in graphic design. All you need to do is be able to design different types of logos, banners and graphics really well. And you can learn all of this through the millions of tutorials and web courses available online, you don't even have to go to school to learn graphic design.
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This is true of most skills as you get to learn the skills as time goes on and not necessarily needing to be certified by a university of graphics. I have a friend that learnt this art within 4 months and he is doing well for himself at the moment. It is all about getting to understand what graphics designs is all about.
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Graphics designers are one of the most successful freelancers in the world. It's like most low paying and high paying companies are always in need of a graphics designer in any kind. They vary from a different types and most of them are already earning high amount of $$$ just by posting their services on freelance market sites!
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I agree with you, a lot of people underestimate this career they thought that being a graphic designer is really easy when in fact, it takes so much time and it is really a hassle and low paying.
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Tronia
Damn, is it really the top 25 most craved jobs? I had no clue... I mean, I do know a few people that are professional graphics designers but I had no idea that such a large majority finds it so appealing. Do you think that it's because of the money potential or what?
It's pretty amazing that the coin was termed back in 1922. I would have imagined that it was more in the 1940's or so. But you are right, without graphics designers, there isn't any marketing or advertising. They're extremely important because they create logos/images which are essential to engage with the audience.
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